The genitals examined were those of either new-born individuals, or of such as were but a few weeks old. In two instances, which were in no way distinguished by a special development of the Weberian Organ, the uro genital canal was wider and shorter than normal, measuring from 2 to 21 inches long only, instead of about 4 inches, while the penis was smaller, and twisted into numerous zigzags or spirals. But in other respects the male oro.ans were quite perfectly developed ; the urethra opened at the extremity of the ,penis, and the testicles had descended into the scrotum.
In the sheep there is no Weberian organ. Even in the new-born individual, neither its ' opening nor any other indication of it can be found. But in the bullock I found immediately under the orifice of the vasa deferentia a small and scarcely noticeable roundish aperture, through which a probe penetrated about two lines in depth, evidently into the tubular cavity of a small Weberian organ, which was covered by the heart-shaped mass of the pro state.
Cetacea.— Some time ago* I described the Weberian organ in the narwhal and dolphin. It lies in Me prostate, beneath the conspicuous verumontanum, and possesses a flask-shaped cavity of about one inch in depth. The open ing at the lower declivity of the verumon tanuin is a fissure which has the shamof a horse-shoe curved forwards, while a triangular papilla, which arises from its posterior mar gin projects into it. In the Monodon the latter is farther separated by a linear fissure. In a dolphin (Delphinus urea?) which I ex amined, the anterior extremity of this papilla was united with the opposite margin ; so that the opening was divided into two fissures converging superiorly. In the same way Leydig observed it in Delphinus phoceena ; while in another individual of the same species I have met with the condition previously de scribed. Possibly in younger individuals of the Cetacea the Weberian organ has a yet greater development. At least Eschricht, who was not aware of the structure just described, that, in a male embryo of the Plerobalcena, the inferior extremity of both vasa deferentia was connected with a transverse fold, of which the free margins exhibited the appearance of an obliterated cord. From its situation this would about correspond to the lateral horns of an uterus.
II. PnvstoLoov.—We, now, proceed to enquire what is the use of this structure, the occurrence and variable forms of which we have hitherto been treating. of. It is a general
law that the physiological import of an organ stands in a direct relation with its anatomical development. If we regard the Weberian organ in this point of view, we shall soon be convinced, from its absence in many Mam Inaba, and from the varieties of its develop ment in particular individuals, that its in fluence upon life cannot be very important.
When Morgagni first discovered the human Weberian organ, he thought that it was con nected with the prostate. Its situation made him think it possible that some tubes of the prostate emptied themselves into it, and that it was in a certain manner, like the gall bladder, a saccular dilatation of the excretory duct of the prostate. But anatomical research soon convinced him that his conjecture was necessarily erroneous. A communication be tween the prostate and the Weberian organ never exists, and is indeed rendered impossible by an arrangement like that which obtains in the horse, the goat, and the beaver.
According to other views, the Weberian organ has the function of a seminal receptacle. Thus it has received the name of a vesicula seminalis. But we know how prone the earlier anatomists were to this designation, and how they indicated in this manner all those accessories of the male genitals of Mammalia which opened near, or together with, the ejaculatory ducts, without any closer acquaintance with their structure and import. More recent researches- have corrected us on this point. They have shown us that the dependent structures known as the dual se minal vesicles of the vasa deferentia almost always possess a glandular texture, and never, or only occasionally (as in man), contain spermatozoa. It is true that the flask-shaped seminal vesicles of the horse and ass are genuine reservoirs of sperm, — as we may conclude from the fact, that the vasa defe rentia open into them, — hut as a rule exactly the reverse relation obtains.
But the same anatomical arrangement as that of the vesicula seminalis in the horse may be seen in the Weberian organ* of the hare previously mentioned. On this ground only one might conclude a similar functional import. And the microscope really brings proof that the contents of the Weberian organ are, in this instance, sperm.